Belkin has ESSID off, WPA on, MAC address filtering on. Firewall on. No open gateways. Epson printer connected USB to iMac, printer sharing on iMac enabled so that I can print from iBook. No apparent MAC address for printer...

I have entered only two MAC addresses (iBook & iMac) in MAC address filtering yet 3 addresses show in DHCP client list. Obviously I can identify two of them as the iBook and the iMac, the third is rogue and won't go away.

It is not the MAC address for the iBook's ethernet or firewire.

The iMac appears to have only one MAC address.

The iMac has in the past been connected to the internet via a USB DSL modem, the software is still loaded but the connection is currently disabled. I've left it loaded in case of router malfunction.

I live on a fairly remote trailer park in rural Devon, England, so I am not susceptible to drive-by wi-fi hackers & poachers. Two close neighbors have recently acquired Windoze Centrino laptops but neither are savvy enough to to hack into a secure network. In fact, on Sunday I tried to help one neighbor to connect to my wi-fi to demonstrate how to do it (LOL) - she wants to get a wi-fi router - and couldn't get the wretched Windoze box to connect even by switching off all security. (All back on now, I hasten to add...)

Sorry this is so long, but two questions:

a) Is there any way to find out what the rogue MAC address is?

&/or:

b) How do I remove it from the DHCP client list?

&/or:

Is it possible that the router has 'remembered' the attempted connection and saved the neighbor's laptop's MAC address?

Most routers come with enough logging information to let you know if its DHCP what IP address the DHCP server has assigned to a MAC address.

1. Check the log of your Belkin router to see if an IP address has been assigned to that MAC address. I am not familiar with the Belkin router but it is possible that it is keeping the MAC address of the DSL modem. You should be able to find out the MAC address of your DSL modem either on the modem itself, or from your Belkin router.

2. On most router, it is possible to configure MAC address filter. Basically, allowing only devices with MAC addresses configured in the router to connect to the router.

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